Mustangs beat Rams in a runaway

Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 10:42 PM.

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East Lincoln’s offense was efficient, firing at 54.5 percent (24-for-44) for the game. Surratt finished with 13 points and Charlie Hills 12 for the Mustangs.

Sebastian Nieminen’s hot shooting was Highland Tech’s only hope at times as the senior forward went 5-for-10 from 3-point range and finished with 19 points. Kameron Harper added 14 points and Josh Neely 10 for the Rams (5-10, 4-3).

Highland Tech shot 35.6 percent for the game and turned the ball over 13 times, including 10 in the first half as the Rams let the game get away. Highland Tech took better care of the ball in the second half and eventually heated up, finishing the game on a 17-3 run to make the score respectable.

“I think (East Lincoln) came out ready to play and they’re a good team,” Highland Tech coach Butch Blalock said. “We didn’t match their intensity, and up here if you don’t match their intensity early then they can get out on you.”

Both teams were out of school Monday and Tuesday and held shoot-arounds earlier on Tuesday to get back into basketball mode.

Highland Tech begins the second half of the league schedule Friday at home against West Lincoln.

DENVER — The top half of the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference has been as competitive as ever from a standings standpoint this season, but a matchup between two of those teams proved otherwise Tuesday.

East Lincoln led by as many as 29 points on its way to a 64-49 home win over Highland Tech in a meeting between teams that entered in a three-way tie for second.

Dominique Smith scored 21, including four first-half 3-pointers, as the Mustangs (12-4, 5-2 SPC) won their third straight to stay in a second-place tie with Bessemer City, a 91-62 winner over West Lincoln on Tuesday. Those two second-place teams meet Friday at Bessemer City in a rematch of the Yellow Jackets’ 56-50 win on Jan. 4.

In the first 9:17 alone, Smith shot 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range for 14 points.

Smith wasn’t the only Mustang on fire early. Chazz Surratt hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and Tyler Brock added a triple as East Lincoln went 7-for-13 from long range in the first 16 minutes.

The hot shooting combined with a disruptive defense led to a 39-13 halftime lead for East Lincoln without head coach Neil Hodges there to enjoy it. The 12th-year Mustangs coach was home sick.

“We’ve been preaching to our kids all year the importance of playing exceptional defense and I think that was the key,” said East Lincoln assistant coach Chip Ashley, filling in as head coach. “It seemed like every time they drove, we had somebody there to help. Every time they took a shot, somebody was close by with a hand in their face.”

East Lincoln’s offense was efficient, firing at 54.5 percent (24-for-44) for the game. Surratt finished with 13 points and Charlie Hills 12 for the Mustangs.

Sebastian Nieminen’s hot shooting was Highland Tech’s only hope at times as the senior forward went 5-for-10 from 3-point range and finished with 19 points. Kameron Harper added 14 points and Josh Neely 10 for the Rams (5-10, 4-3).

Highland Tech shot 35.6 percent for the game and turned the ball over 13 times, including 10 in the first half as the Rams let the game get away. Highland Tech took better care of the ball in the second half and eventually heated up, finishing the game on a 17-3 run to make the score respectable.

“I think (East Lincoln) came out ready to play and they’re a good team,” Highland Tech coach Butch Blalock said. “We didn’t match their intensity, and up here if you don’t match their intensity early then they can get out on you.”

Both teams were out of school Monday and Tuesday and held shoot-arounds earlier on Tuesday to get back into basketball mode.

Highland Tech begins the second half of the league schedule Friday at home against West Lincoln.

Girls: East Lincoln 45, Highland Tech 43 — Jennifer Allison’s putback and free throw with 6.1 seconds left sealed the outcome as East Lincoln picked up its second win of the season.

Allison finished with a game-high 22 points, but none of them were bigger than her three-point play with the game on the line.

East Lincoln led 42-41 in the waning seconds but squandered two chances to increase the lead at the foul line. Two players each missed a pair of free throws in the final 15.3 seconds, but Allison tracked down the rebound on the final missed free throw, hit a layup and drew a foul. Allison converted her foul shot for a 45-41 lead, rendering Kyla Walker’s buzzer-beating baseline jumper on the other end meaningless.

Allison finished with 10 rebounds and Ashlee Frazier added eight points for East Lincoln (2-14, 2-5), whose other win came against Cherryville.

Madison Armstrong had 18 points and eight rebounds for Highland Tech (0-15, 0-7), which keeps getting closer to its first victory. Lizann Wessinger, playing her third game after being sidelined with a knee injury, recorded seven rebounds and four points for the Rams while Walker finished with eight points.